LOVE
Ji An was more than elated to get the job at the deaf and dumb school... her skills of sign language could now be used for helping people like her beloved haramunni. To tell the truth, all this happening to her still felt surreal... being liked by people, being cared for, being able to be of some use to the world despite having the most unfortunate fate since she was born, was all too good to be true. Earlier she just had one motive... to earn money so that she could pay off all her loans and take care of her haramunni.. by any means possible. But now.. now it was different. She worked for a short while at a restaurant where she made a friend.. a lovely girl named Seo Ji Seon..who discovered her amazing skills and helped her get this job. It was as if God was tired of giving her troubles and hurdles ..and now just wanted to shower happiness over her.
Two months passed and she was now a person totally different from what she was 3 years ago. She smiled, laughed, talked and looked forward to tomorrow; she was happy, alive, something which she never had thought she would be. She was surprised at her own self. She, Lee Ji An could socialise! And make friends ..and be loved and adored by people! Everyone at the school loved her for her kindness and the patience with which she taught sign language to the people there.
A year had now passed. Ji An was happier than ever before, and had a lovely blush on her face.. caused by the engagement ring on her left hand. She was proposed by Kang Sang Joon, the son of a woman in the deaf and dumb institution. Ji An had captured his heart the very first time they met, and he had left no stone unturned to win her over. They dated for 6 months and were engaged when they thought they were perfect for each other.
It was a month before her wedding, and Ji An sat at the table, busy making the guest list for her wedding. There were about 100 people in her guest-list, a huge number which comprised of all of her co workers and their families and every other person at her institution, and her fiancee's family and friends. She herself had no family and no friends to invite.. except, one person, who had come to her life as if as God himself, Park Dong Hoon. As she wrote down his name and address on the envelope containing her wedding card, she smiled, and her heart beat fast, as it had always done when he was near her or when she heard his mere name. He was the one to pull her away from darkness; her saviour, her guide in the truest sense. He was in America a few months ago, visiting his son and ex-wife, and had changed his number so she had lost contact with him. She wasn't even sure if he had returned yet, but still she sent the letter to his Korean address.. and made a quick wish.
The day of her wedding finally arrived, and she made a beautiful bride.It was the happiest day of her life, but still, as she walked down the aisle , a part of her felt sad and anxious.. Dong Hoon hadn't arrived..yet. The wedding happened smoothly, she and her husband exchanged vows and were now lawfully wedded. Ji An felt unbearably sad and tears welled up in her eyes, when suddenly she heard.. his voice. "Congratualtions, Ji An-ah".. his deep voice was something she was too familiar with. She turned towards its source and saw him standing, smiling from ear to ear in his most charming way. Elated, she rushed to him .. "I thought you wouldn't come, I thought you wouldn't receive my letter".. she cried. "No Ji An -ah, how could I not? When it is your wedding, my Ji An's wedding! How could I not be there in the happiest day of your life?" Saying so, he patted her head lovingly. "Now will you just stand here crying or introduce me to your husband?" Laughing, Ji An took him to Sang Joon. "Oh so you are the Dong Hoon, Ji An can't stop talking about?" They both laughed. As they talked, Ji An stood by, watching both the loves of her life. A realisation that she had had quite some time ago, was confirmed as she looked at both of them in turns. It was the realisation that love exists in so many different forms, and its wrong to describe love as just one kind, the romantic love. She had been unsure before, but now it was clear as day to her, that she loved Sang Joon and Dong Hoon differently. What she felt for Sang Joon was romantic love, the one that's between a husband and wife, a man and a woman. But what she felt for Dong Hoon, transcends these definitions, and is more of a heart to heart connection, an unsaid understanding, an unbreakable bond which was neither friendship nor romantic love. It was something very pure, and a feeling that can't be described. And it best not be described, or named, as that would dilute its true meaning. Ji An couldn't be happier today, as she realised this, and whispered to any god who was listening.. "Please protect my love."
